FBI Targets Eco-Terrorists

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee convened a hearing on "eco-terrorism" yesterday, anxious to warn the nation of a rising danger that has already killed ... well, nobody. Despite the unimpressive body count, a growing number of property crimes make fringe ecological and animal-rights groups the single greatest domestic terror threat facing the U.S., according to the FBI's John Lewis, who testified before the committee. He acknowledged that groups like the Earth Liberation Front and the Animal Liberation Front have not caused bodily harm, per se, but cited "troubling signs that this is changing," like "violent rhetoric." After the testimony, committee chair James Inhofe (R-Okla.) got to the real agenda: Smearing the larger environmental movement. "Just like al-Qaeda or any other terrorist organization, ELF and ALF cannot accomplish their goals without money, membership, and the media," he said darkly, vowing to look more closely for ways that radical groups get assistance from "mainstream activists."